Osterholz

Osterholz lies north of Bremen among the marshes and waterways of the lower Weser country. In 1182 Archbishop Siegfried of Bremen founded a Benedictine monastery here with the monk Eylard, who became its first provost. An archiepiscopal estate at nearby Scharmbeck helped support the foundation. The surrounding lands remained under the prince-archbishops of Bremen until the Peace of Westphalia transformed their territory into a secular duchy in 1648. It passed first to Swedish rule and then, in 1715, to the Hanoverian crown.